Circuit-make-and-break device.



A. E. CLAUDON. CIRCUIT MAKE AND BREAK DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED JAN.25. 1911.

1,041,594, Patented Oct. 15, 1912.

- device.

'device will be illustrated l taken on the line lle-4 of Fig. 2, cuttin AUGUST E. CLAUDON, 0F DENVER, COLORADO.

Specieaton ofl Letters Patent.

Patented Got. 15,193.2..

Application tiled January 25, 19M. SerialNo. 604,680.

To all whom it may concern f Be it kno-wn that I, AUGUST E. @LA UDON, a citizen of t-he United States, residing 1n the city and county of Denver and State of Colorado, have invented Ycer-tain new and usetul Improvements in CirCuit-Makeand- Break Devices; and l do declare the following to be a full, clear, and eXact description oi the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the artto which it appertains to make and use the saine, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked. thereon, which form a part of this speciication. l

My invention relates generally spealring to improvements in a circuit make-andbrcak However, in this speciiication the and described with special reference to its use on electric cars for breaking the circuit, in which lamps are suitably located for illuminating the steps where passengers get on and ott' the car. By virtue of my improvement the circuit is broken as soon as 'the car starts and again closed as soon as it stops.

It is evident that the object et the device is to save electricity, since it is not necessary that the step-illuminating lamps should burn while the car is in motion, as passengers do not get on and ed the car at such time.

Generally speaking the invention consists of mounting a disk upon the car in such a manner that its periphery engages the tread of one ot' the car wheels, the disk having movable devices concealed 'therein which normally, or when the wheel is not in motion, serve to close the circuit or maintain it intact, while when the wheel is in motion these devices are 'thrown outwardly by centrifugal torce, moving them away 'from the contacts which they normally engage, and thereby breaking the circuit.

Having briefly outlined my improved construction, l will proceed to describe the same in detail, reference being made to the accompanying drawing in which is illustrated an embodiment thereof.

In this drawing: Figure l is a sectiflm tie make and break disk diametrically. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of my improved device with a portion of the. disk holder removed, the disk being shown in section, the parts be ing shown on a larger scale. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the same partly broken away.

The saine reference characters indicate the same parts in all the views.

Let the numeral 5 designate a disk which as illustrated in the drawing includes two insulating members 6 and 7 connected by bolts 8 and provided with a series oi radially disposed cavities 9 in which metal balls l0 are adapted to move. To these insulating members on opposite sides are applied metal plates l2 terminating at their outer ends in journals 13 engaging metal bearings lli in whose outer extremities beyond the journals are left openings l5 in which waste lG-is located, the said waste being adapted to be saturated with oil for purposes of lubrication, lt is preferred that the lower half of the bearings shall have closures 17 for the extremities of the ournal openings, whereby the waste is retained in place. The metal plates l2 are connected with the insulating member 6 by a series of pairs of contact screws il, each pair of screws being adapted to be engaged by a metal ball l0 tor the purpose ot closing the electrical circuit when the ball is at its inward limit ot movement. The journal bearings li are mounted on metal arms 19 which are separated as shown at 9,0 to receive the disk. These arms 19 approach. each other beyond the disk as shown at 2l where they are separated by an insulating member 22.v lrlhe arms 19 are rigidly connected with a rod 23 carrying a T-head 2li, which is secured to the parts 2l by screws 25. The rod 23, however, is insulated from the parts 2l by an insulating member 26 interposed between the parts 2l and the T-head 24. Furthermore the screws 25 which are threaded into the members 2l, are insulated from the T-head Q4. and consequently from the rod 23. This construction and arrangement prevents the electricity trom passing through the disk holder beyond the members 19 carrying the bearings for the disk.

Let the numerals 27 and 28 designate the two electrical conductors, both' of which are connected with a. socket located in the lighting circuit 'of a car.

By reference to Fig. l of the drawing it will be understood that there are eight radially disposed cavities formed in the insulating disk7 each one of these cavities being occupied by a metal ball 10 which when at its inward limit of movement closes the electrical circuit by virtue of the construction Q at, at least three of the heretofore described. llt will also be understood froman inspection of the drawing, that when the disk 5 is at rest or not rotating, at least three of the metal balls l() will be at their inward limit of movement, whereby the said circuit is simultaneously closed at, at least three points, since the individualy screws of each pair 18 are respec- .tively connected with the two branches of the circuit and both these screws are always engaged by a ball 10 when the latter is at its inward limit of movement.

'llhe two circuit wires 27 and 28 lead to terminals 34 respectively mounted on the two members 19 of the disk holder, the said terminals being connected with the said vmembers by screws 35.

main in contact with the wheel at all times. d

From this it will be understood that when the car is in motion the disk 5 will be rotated with considerable velocity, whereby the necessary centrifugal force will be developed to cause all of the balls 10 to leave the acontact screws 18 and move outwardly in their respective radial cavities 19, and these balls will remain in that the car is in motion. the car stops, the disk will cease to A:rotate and all otq the balls occupying cavities 19 in the upper part of the disk will roll inwardly and 1n the form of construction shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing, the circuit through the conductors 27 and 28 will then be closed points, since at least three balls 10 will roll by gravity to their inward limit oit movement, whereby each is brought into contact with al pair of screws 18, the individuals of which are located in the respective branches of the circuit as heretotore explained.7

` 'llhe insulating members 6 and 7 are preferably composed ort wood, and in order to position as long as However, as soon as t menace give them the necessary strength and make the device exceedingly durable, l apply circular metal plates 40 to the opposite sides of the members 6 and 7, the bolts 8 securing these circular plates to the insulating wood members, nuts 41 being applied to the threaded extremities ofthe said bolts, the bolts being interposed between the radial cavities 9 as indicated in F ig. 1. These circular plates 40 project beyond the peripheries of the insulating wood members 6 and 7 of the wheel and serve to retain the tire 42 in place. This tire may be composed of leather, rubber or other suitable material. Some soft material is preferable in order to make the device practically noiseless.

Having-thus described my invention, what l claim is:

A device of the class described, comprising a holder composed of two metal members, forming a fork and insulated from each other, an insulating disk composed ot two members, means for connecting the said members. with each other, the said disk having radially arranged cavities suitably spaced, and whose inner extremities are separated from each other by a soli/d part oi? the disk, centrally located metal hub members applied to the disk members on opposite sides of Vthe latter, metal screws connecting the said hub members with their respective disk members, the heads of the screws projecting into the inner extremities of the cavities, there being two separated screw heads in each cavity, the said hub members having metal journals which respectively engage the two members ot the fork, an electric circuit whose branches are respectively connected with the said fork members, and metal balls freely movable in the respective cavities and adapted to engage the two screws of each cavity when the balls are at their inner limit of movement to close the circuit, substantially as described.

ln testimony whereof l atlix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

AUGlUS'l ll). CLAUDN.

Witnesses:

F. E. BOWEN, A. Eisner Bnrnn. 

